Staying Focused on Our Work
Recent media stories have reported that gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell
has filed an ethics complaint against me. I want to assure you that any
allegations of corruption or misconduct are utterly without merit. Perhaps
the explanation of the circumstances below will establish some
context.
When I became HHSC Commissioner in 2003, I was asked to assume the post
held by the two previous HHSC Commissioners on the board of the Texas
Health Institute. The Texas Health Institute is a non-profit organization
devoted to health policy research. I considered the position to be
honorary and agreed. I think that it is important to note that I have
never attended a meeting of the board, never participated in any board action
and never exercised any fiduciary duty on behalf of the board or the
Institute. I have received no financial benefit of any kind and have no
financial ties to the Institute. Unfortunately, because I never considered
this post as anything other than honorary, I overlooked it when I filed my
personal financial statement with the state Ethics Commission. I have
submitted a corrected statement.
While the Institute has received a competively awarded contract
through the Department of State Health Services, I had no prior knowledge of or
involvement in the procurement or contracting decision at State Health
Services.
While this is clearly a personal distraction, I do not want it to detract
from the work you perform for the people of this state. I remain focused on
taking care of the business of this agency, the HHS enterprise and the State of
Texas .
Albert Hawkins — Nov. 6, 2006
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Albert Hawkins gives HIS spin on recent allegations and questions regarding his ethics....
This following was posted on the Employee Intranet on November 6th. Spin in Mr. Hawkins. Spin it.
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1 comment:
Actually, Albert is still lying. I did an open records request and have in my possession the copy of the sole source justification dated 12/28/05 for over 1,000,000 dollars to the Texas Health Institute. I do not know why Al must continue to lie, maybe because the truth in this case is not his friend.
The sole source justification essentially states--because we picked them to do it-- and is unsigned.
There is no RFP or award announcement that was ever made. It was a GIFT. A non-competitive retainer to pay this group to lobby for privatization. The staff of this non-profit are mostly former staff to legislatos turned lobbyist.
BTW--the Chief Operating Officer at DSHS (Health) worked for Michael Toomey(lobbyist for Philip Morris and Texans for Lawsuit Reform)and Maximus. In fact, he was in charge of the Maximus call-center project in California and came here to work during negotiations with Maximus for their contract for Texas call centers at a 70,000 paycut. Interestingly, he worked here before as the CHIP Bureau Chief, gave the CHIP eligibility contracts to Maximus, then went to Maximus for a 75,000 raise. Cool.
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